TRIVIA TIDBITS

Welcome back to Trivia Tidbits. For those of you out of the loop, this is a little compilation of 10 movie related facts that I always find interesting. So without further ado, this weeks are…

1: The “Alien” series has a continuing obsession with alphabetising their androids chronologically. In “Alien“, Ian Holm was Ash. “Aliens” had Lance Henriksen as Bishop. “Alien Ressurection” had Winona Ryder as Call and “Prometheus” had Michael Fassbender as David.

2: [Spoiler]
An original ending for the classic serial killer film “Se7en” saw Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) shooting John Doe (Kevin Spacey). This was followed with the cringeworthy kiss off line, “I’m retiring”. The scene was storyboarded but never filmed.

3: In 1986, a sequel to the Arnold Schwarzenegger film “Commando” was written by Steven E. de Souza, and revised by Frank Darabont, with an eye to having John McTiernan direct. The script was based on the book “Nothing Lasts Forever” by Roderick Thorp, but Schwarzenegger wasn’t interested in reprising the role. The script was then reworked with a new central character, eventually played by Bruce Willis, and became “Die Hard“.

4: Michael Fassbender was cast as Franck in Danny Boyle’s “Trance” but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Colin Firth was briefly considered for the part before Vincent Cassel was cast.
While Scarlett Johansson, Mélanie Thierry, Eva Green and Zoe Saldana were considered for the role that went to Rosario Dawson.

5: In “Velvet Goldmine“, when Christian Bale and Ewan McGregor were filming their gay sex scene, the director cut without letting them know. As a result, the two continued to simulate the act until they realised the trick that had been played on them.

6: Producer Sam Spiegel sent the script of “On The Waterfront” to Marlon Brando and it came back with a refusal. Spiegel however had inserted small pieces of paper between the pages which were still in place when the script was returned to him, indicating that it hadn’t been read. While Spiegel continued to work on Brando, Frank Sinatra agreed to take on the role of Terry Malloy.

7: The brown Fedora worn by Henry Fonda in “On Golden Pond” belonged to Spencer Tracy and was given to Fonda by Katharine Hepburn on the first day on the set. Fonda, overwhelmed with the gesture, painted a still life watercolor of the three hats he wore in the film and gave the original to Hepburn as a gift. He had 200 lithographs made of the painting and sent one to every person who worked on the film. Each copy was numbered and personally signed by Fonda thanking each person by name. In her autobiography, Hepburn wrote that she gave the painting to screenwriter Ernest Thompson. After Fonda’s death, she found the painting to be a sad reminder of him and Spencer Tracy.

8: In “Ghostbusters“, the role of Louis Tully (played by Rick Moranis) was originally written for John Candy. The role of Peter Venkman (played by Bill Murray) was originally written for John Belushi and the role of Winston (played Ernie Hudson) was originally written for Eddie Murphy.

9: Robert De Niro lobbied for the role of Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia’s role) in “The Godfather part III“. Director Francis Ford Coppola considered it, which would have included aging Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone even more, but eventually decided against the idea.

10: While vacationing in Ireland with then-girlfriend Jennifer Grey (“Dirty Dancing“) back in 1987, Matthew Broderick accidentally drove his BMW rental head-on into a Volvo, leaving its passengers – a mother and daughter – dead. Broderick had a broken leg while Grey was left with some of his blood stains on her clothes. This could have contributed to the disappearance of Jennifer Grey from cinema as she said “The juxtaposition of that deep sorrow, the survivor’s guilt, and then being celebrated as the new big thing just didn’t jibe. It didn’t feel good to be the toast of the town”.

So there you have it. 10 esoteric Tidbits to masticate on. Some you may know. Some you may not. If you have any thoughts, stick your donations in the comment box…

Same here on Se7en. The ending to that is perfect as it is. That would have been a disaster.

As for DeNiro is Part III. Apparently it was considered. The characters were related after all, so a resemblance wouldn’t have been out of the question. I think they made the wise decision to go against it, though.